Only 1 way out for Iraq, Annan warns Hussein

Tribune news services

United Nations weapons inspectors returned to Iraq on Monday, ending a four-year hiatus in the search for weapons of mass destruction. UN Secretary General Kofi Annan warned Baghdad that the only way to avoid war is to cooperate fully.

Looking for nuclear, biological or chemical weapons, the 17 inspectors are expected Wednesday to begin their first search.

"I hope the government of Iraq will fully cooperate with the inspectors and respect its obligations unreservedly. That is the only way to avoid conflict in the region," Annan said in Paris.

Iraq, which must make a formal declaration by Dec. 8, denies it has weapons of mass destruction. Chief UN weapons inspector Hans Blix said Baghdad has to come clean about its arms programs, saying earlier weapons declarations "did not give a full account." The United States has threatened war with Iraq if it fails to do so.

Blix told the UN Security Council in New York that he has informed Iraq he will exercise his right to inspect Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein's presidential compounds and other sensitive sites.

Blix also revealed that in meetings with weapons inspectors last week, Iraq restated its denial.

"If the Iraqi side were to state as it still did at our meeting that there were no such programs, it would need to provide convincing evidence," Blix said after briefing the Security Council on Monday.

Also on Monday, a deeply divided Security Council extended the UN humanitarian oil-for-food program in Iraq for just nine days after an agreement for a customary six-month renewal fell apart over a U.S. demand to update the list of imported goods for which Baghdad must get UN approval.

Working against a midnight Monday deadline, council members couldn't agree on a timetable to review the list. Diplomats voted unanimously to extend the program to buy time for further negotiations.

The United States forced the action in part because it wants to limit the next renewal to only three months.

In addition to the shorter renewal term, the United States wants to expand a UN list of items that have dual military and civilian uses. Among the goods Washington wants banned are atropine injectors and large quantities of the drug atropine, which can be used to combat nerve gases.

British Prime Minister Tony Blair also warned Hussein on Monday not to play a game of "hide and seek" in the hunt for illicit armaments, a search that arose from the cease-fire accord in the 1991 Persian Gulf war.

The UN Security Council on Nov. 8 adopted a tough new resolution giving Iraq one more chance to disarm.

"We have no doubt that he does have weapons of mass destruction," Blair, who has been the staunchest supporter of President Bush's stance on Iraq, told a news conference in London.

Blair said that a false declaration would constitute a "material breach" of the Nov. 8 resolution but that it is up to the weapons inspectors to pass judgment.

In Paris, Annan and French President Jacques Chirac urged Iraq to cooperate fully. Chirac said Iraq has agreed to recognize the validity of the inspections. If the Iraqis fail to live up to their obligations, Chirac added, "all outcomes are possible."

Iraqi Vice President Taha Yassin Ramadan said that Iraq would cooperate with the inspectors "to prove to the whole world the evil American plan that aims to dominate the region and serve the Zionist interests, not search for the so-called weapons of mass destruction."

Iraq has to submit a declaration to the council next month, listing all its weapons programs as well as materials that could be used as ingredients for nuclear, chemical, biological and ballistic weapons. Blix said Iraqi officials raised concerns about the declaration but, "I had the feeling they were going to try to put up a very substantial report."

Secretary of State Colin Powell noted that Iraqi authorities made public Sunday an angry letter to the United Nations over the resolution's terms but said their December report is key.

"We are now focusing on the 8th of December, when the declaration is due. The letter they sent in over the weekend was certainly not indicative of a cooperative attitude on their part," Powell said.

In Cairo, Mohamed ElBaradei, head of the International Atomic Energy Agency, which has experts on the UN inspection team, said that if inspectors have free access and find no arms, war would be averted.

"If we can give a positive report, the inspections will be an alternative to war, not a precursor to war," he said.

He added, after a meeting with Arab League Secretary General Amr Moussa, "The real test will be when the inspections start."

"We've had a lot of promises of cooperation," said Melissa Fleming, a spokeswoman for the IAEA, which is coordinating the inspections. "We believe that's a good start. But we have suspicious minds."